Book Review: Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Tunisian Crochet

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Tunisian crochet has been increasing in popularity for the
past few years, and if you’ve been waiting to learn, now’s your chance! In the Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Tunisian Crochet, Kim Guzman walks you through the basics while offering nine projects of increasing
difficulty. The book focuses on Tunisian crochet creations that mimic the look of hand knitting.

The book includes an introduction to the types of hooks that are available for Tunisian
crochet, as well as ways to modify standard or double-ended crochet hooks for
Tunisian crochet.

An eight-page section with
step-by-step photos demonstrates the basic stitches including Tunisian simple,
knit, purl, reverse, and extended stitches.
This section is helpful even to a more experienced Tunisian crocheter
because Tunisian crochet stitch names are not always standardized, and the
pictures allow you to identify stitches you may already know, which may have been called a different name in prior publications.

After introducing you to the stitches, Kim shares techniques
for increasing, decreasing, changing colors, seaming and other finishing. The remainder of the book is devoted to the patterns,
with a brief section at the end that includes information on reading patterns
and the yarns used in the book.

Kim writes in a conversational tone and reading this book is
like having a great teacher looking over your shoulder. Some of my favorite features are that the
book lays flat so you can read along while crocheting; projects list yarn by
type rather than by brand for easy substitution (a list of yarns used for each
project is provided at the end); and many pictures and illustrations
demonstrate various techniques throughout the book. Kim assumes that you have at least some
knowledge of standard crochet (i.e., how to make a chain) and familiarity with pattern-reading conventions.

Ravelry members can view pictures of all the patterns in the
book here. Kim will be hosting a TCAL (Tunisian
Crochet-A-Long) for the Cabled Mitts
starting November 15 in her Yahoo group. You can learn more about it here. Since Tunisian crochet cables can be
challenging to even more experienced Tunisian crocheters, you may want to join
in!

This book would appeal to crocheters who want to learn
Tunisian crochet, crocheters who want to explore different techniques, and
Tunisian crocheters who are looking to expand their skills beyond the basic
stitches.

Full disclosure: A free review copy ofUltimate Beginner's Guide to Tunisian Crochet was provided by Leisure Arts Inc. Although I accept free products for review, I do not accept additional compensation, nor do I guarantee a positive review. My reviews are based entirely on my honest opinions.

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CGOA Now! is the place to find book reviews, the latest news and information about CGOA, and general items of interest from the crochet community. The content of the blog is overseen by the Board of Directors and Chain Link editor Kim Guzman.